This is the back of a recent mailer sent by City Commission Seat 1 candidate Steve Stewart. / Special to the Democrat

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Senior government editor

This is the front of a recent mailer sent by City Commission Seat 1 candidate Steve Stewart. / Special to the Democrat

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• See the Stewart TV ad and the mailer online at Tallahassee.com/burlewblog.

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The widow of former Tallahassee City Commissioner Charles Billings is expressing outrage that her late husband’s name and photo are being used in political ads for City Commission candidate Steve Stewart.

A TV ad and mailer funded by the Stewart campaign say his opponent in the Nov. 6 general election, former Mayor Scott Maddox, falsely claimed Billings might legalize strip clubs and drugs when Billings and Maddox squared off for mayor in 1997. The Stewart pieces say Maddox “loves false and misleading attack ads” and accuse him of “attacking the integrity of Steve Stewart.”

Martha Billings said she was flabbergasted when she learned about the ads from a family member. Charles Billings was elected to the City Commission in 1998 and died while in office in 2002 a month after being diagnosed with pancreatic cancer. She said Maddox and Billings developed a friendship while serving together and that Maddox was among several people who eulogized Billings at his funeral.

“I am appalled that Stewart would associate himself with my husband, who is clearly not able to speak for himself,” she said in an interview with the Tallahassee Democrat. “I call it politically unethical because it’s implying a connection and it’s associating Steve Stewart with my husband, who I think continues to be among the most honorable local politicians our city has ever had.”

Stewart, who faced controversy in the primary after sending out a mailer picturing him with School Superintendent Jackie Pons without his permission, is standing behind the ads.

“This postcard was to highlight Scott Maddox’s campaign tactics, which I believe are disgraceful,” Stewart said.

Maddox said Stewart’s mail piece implies Billings would be supporting Stewart in his run for Seat 1.

“What’s really galling is once again we have Mr. Stewart using someone else’s name and likeness without their permission,” Maddox said. “Obviously, he’s attempting to gain votes by saying Commissioner Billings and I were at odds when in fact we worked well together.”

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Maddox did in fact send out a mailer late in the 1997 campaign suggesting Billings, who taught political science at Florida State University and served as a community columnist for the Democrat, might legalize drugs and strip clubs. The mailer was based on columns Billings had written that opined on the effectiveness of the war on drugs and legal questions surrounding a strip-club ban. Billings told the Democrat at the time the mailer was a cheap shot.

Stewart’s TV ad also mentions another deceased Tallahassee politician, Hurley Rudd, who served as city commissioner and mayor and ran against Maddox for a state House seat in 1990.

During the campaign, Maddox called attention to a photograph of Rudd that ran in the newspaper showing him with his eyes closed during the early morning hours of the last day of session and suggested Rudd was sleeping while local interests were neglected. Rudd, who served four terms in the House after winning election in 1986, died in 2006.

His son, Frank Rudd, said Stewart contacted his family before running the TV ad “and explained what he was trying to portray, and we were fine with it.” Rudd said Stewart was trying to show some of Maddox’s campaign tactics over the years.

“My dad was a hard-working legislator,” Rudd said, “and back in the ‘80s and ‘90s, they used to go to four in the morning toward the end of session. I just thought it was a very unfair portrayal of my dad.”

Billings said she was so upset about the Stewart ads that she wrote a letter to the Democrat editor for the first time in her life. She said in the letter she wanted to “clear up any misconceptions that Mr. Stewart is fostering. And to eliminate any confusion, I will be voting for Scott Maddox in November.”